Scoping review on the link between economic growth, decent work, and early childhood caries

Background Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is a prevalent chronic non-communicable disease that afects millions
of young children globally, with profound implications for their well-being and oral health. This paper explores
the associations between ECC and the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8). Methods The scoping review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. In July 2023, a search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus using tailored search terms related to economic growth, decent work sustained economic growth, higher levels of productivity and technological innovation, entrepreneurship, job creation, and eforts to eradicate forced labor, slavery, and human trafcking and ECC all of which are the targets of the SDG8. Only English language publications, and publications that were analytical in design were included. Studies that solely examined ECC prevalence without reference to SDG8 goals were excluded. Results The initial search yielded 761 articles. After removing duplicates and ineligible manuscripts, 84 were screened. However, none of the identifed studies provided data on the association between decent work, economic growth-related factors, and ECC. Conclusions This scoping review found no English publication on the associations between SDG8 and ECC
despite the plausibility for this link. This data gap can hinder policymaking and resource allocation for oral health programs. Further research should explore the complex relationship between economic growth, decent work and ECC
to provide additional evidence for better policy formulation and ECC control globally.